TUDJMAN, LOCAL SERBS DISCUSS COMPLETION OF REINTEGRATION PROCESS

ZAGREB, Nov 9 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Saturday received a delegation of Serbs from UN-administered eastern Croatia. UN Transitional Administrator General Jacques Klein told reporters after two and a half hours of talks that the meeting was another important step forward after the goodwill demonstrated by both parties on All Saints' Day. Klein, who mediated in the organization of the meeting, said that each issue was discussed in a very constructive way. President Tudjman said that the past could not be changed but that the future could be created with goodwill and a constructive approach to the benefit of all people, the US general said. The head of the Croatian government office for the UN- administered region, Ivica Vrkic, said that the meeting raised all political issues found to be an obstacle to the completion of the peaceful reintegration process. Vrkic said he was confident that it would be possible to set a timetable for the completion of the reintegration process to the benefit of all people who would live in the area. "Our guests have come to visit their President. This is how they have addressed him, and this is a good sign that through his objective and just policies the President has cared for all citizens regardless of their nationality. This is a new quality and new optimism in relations between the Croatian government and local Serbs," Vrkic said. The head of the nine-member Serb delegation, Vojislav Stanimirovic, thanked President Tudjman for receiving them. "We have congratulated him on Croatia's admission to the Council of Europe, which is certainly a step forward in resolving the Serb issue in Croatia," Stanimirovic said. "President Tudjman has promised us that all Croatian citizens, both Croats and Serbs, will be able to return to their homes in the near future and this is certainly a step forward," he stressed. Stanimirovic said that his delegation also raised "some other issues which have not yet been resolved," including a date of elections in the Danube river area, "soft" borders towards Hungary and Yugoslavia, military service, safety of people and a right to the restitution of property for all who had had property in the area and elsewhere in Croatia. "I think that these have been the first serious talks and that they will continue between the Croatian government and our delegation," Stanimirovic said. Asked when he expected local elections to take place, Stanimirovic replied: "I think that it will be possible to hold elections perhaps in March next year. That's our opinion. But (...) this may happen earlier." But before the elections, it would be necessary to draw up voter registers and determine which local government bodies would be on the ballot, he added. (hina) vm jn 091617 MET nov 96